


You’ll Never Know How Strong You Are Until You Break

by HelloMyNameIsCrazy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gangs, Impied unrequited shance, Langst, Multi, Rape Mentions, This is only a small thing, but its non graphic and is kind of glossed over, hint hint lance hates himself too, ill add more if I get good feedback, lance has SO MANY ISSUES, lance's angsty past, matt is the only one that sees reason, the gang hates lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-03-22 06:59:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13758750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelloMyNameIsCrazy/pseuds/HelloMyNameIsCrazy
Summary: God.They hated him.He was everything they couldn’t be, everything they’dkillto be.He was smart.He was handsome, some even went as far to call himpretty.He was capable.He was dating Matt; they are the first couple that came out so they were sort of iconic at their school.But still, his smile? Fake.His laugh and caring nature? Ha, so fake.Everything about Lance made them want to worship him but at the same time sacrifice his worthless corpse to Satan so he could rot in Hell.But they didn’t, because they learnt the truth about Lance after a long, long time.Enjoy~Indefinite haitus





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If I get good feedback with this, I’ll probably make it a whole story.
> 
> Also I haven’t forgotten about my other works, don’t worry I promise I _will_ finish them.
> 
> Have a nice day :33

  
It wasn’t a secret in their group, they all hated him for different things, the boy was just so _aggravating_  and grating on their nerves. He made their already swamped lives even more unbearable, as if the constant assignments and extra credit they all needed to added a good university weren’t bad enough.

 

Not to mention he was also an eyesore, a fucking pretty little eyesore that none of them would hesitate to burn with their glares and waves of animosity alone.

 

 _He just_ –

 

Keith took in a breath and rolled his shoulders back, steeling himself, and letting out a shuddering his breath, formerly mentioned eyesore was yapping about whatever to Matt on the other side of the hallway, his voice struck a nerve in Keith but he just ignored it and walked over to his locker, which, unfortunately, was right next to the two. Keith hurried as fast as possible, doing his best not to _seem_ to eager to leave.

 

Just as he shut his locker, he could see Matt go on his toes to give Lance a peck on the cheek, he can see the dopey smile and slightly dazed glint in his eyes as he turned a bit to watch Matt walked away, Keith didn’t even bother to hide his disgusted sound, and that alone was enough to break Lance out of whatever trance he’d been in and he turned a glare to Keith, who, for some ungodly reason was _still_  standing there, even as he felt Lance’s eyes on him. His mouth opened and Keith could see a perfect row of teeth and felt the chip on one of his front teeth throb slightly.

 

“Can I help you?”

 

Lance’s voice was melodic in a way, but Keith thought it was the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.

 

 _Unbearable_.

 

Keith just scoffed and turned with his books against his chest and started to walk away to his next class, the hallway was devoid of other students since it was their last class of the day and everyone was excited for the early dismissing since they started school earlier than usual due to unexplained circumstances.

 

Keith didn’t expect the hand on his shoulder, nor the slightly hurt look that shined in Lance’s eye, Keith swallowed and stamped out any sympathy.

 

He can’t make Lance seem human.

 

“Did I do something to make you and your posse mad or something?”

 

Keith was glad that the tone was arrogant and irritating, just exactly what Lance was.

 

(And if Keith could see the signs, the slight tremble in Lance’s hand and the even more blatant fear in his eyes, then Keith ignored them, just as much as he ignored the pang in his chest)

 

“Don’t touch me,” was all he said as he tugged away from Lance’s hand from his shoulder, Lance let him go and just stared as Keith walked a few steps forward, but froze and turned and backtracked quickly, getting all up in Lance’s face, sadly that made the height difference more apparent, but the slight hunch in Lance’s back was appeasing enough.

 

Just for the heck of it, Keith grabbed Lance’s collar and tugged Lance down so he could glare up close, Lance made a squeaky frightened sound out of his throat.

 

_“I really, **really** don’t like you, I know everything about you, I know you’re fake in everything you do, I know you’re worthless and I’m just waiting until Matt realizes that and he finally wakes up from the convoluted nightmare that is being in the same room as you.”_

 

That was what Keith _wanted_  to say, but even he wasn’t that scalding with words.

 

“I don’t like you.” Was what he stayed with, he let go of Lance as if he’d burned him and just walks to class.

 

(He would find out later that he didn’t keep anything internal)

 

~

 

“What. Did. You. Do?”

 

Keith looked up from his trigonometry homework, glowering slightly at Matt who was standing there, covering the natural light of the sun, Keith had just arrived at school in Shiro’s car and he had been sitting outside on a bench in the courtyard waiting for the first classes to start.

 

Stupid Shiro and his extra credit curriculums. Keith didn’t have any other way to get to school though, so he kept his grumbling to himself.

 

Keith just raised a brow and didn’t say anything, he had half a mind on what this was about and he just sighed, putting his stuff away, he wasn’t going to be able to concentrate with Matt lecturing him.

 

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

 

Keith looked up from his nails at that, Matt looked more hurt than angry, and the voice crack caught Keith’s attention and he just waited for Matt to say something, the Sun gave Matt a sharp silhouette and Keith saw how he was clutching his fists and biting his tongue, stopping himself from blurting anything.

 

“Because of you–!”

 

Matt was physically holding himself back from lashing out, as if he might hurt Keith.

 

His eyes widened as he took it Matt’s form, tears that were pooling in his eyes were tipping over his cheek and dripping down his chin, making the collar of his beige shirt slightly damp.

 

Suddenly his face was pushed forward and Keith flinched back, all he saw in Matt’s eyes was _anger_ , anger and hurt, so much _hurt_.

 

Keith just took a breath and firmly put his hands on Matt’s shoulders, and he stood up, and Matt silenced as he looked at Keith with apprehension.

 

“What did he do to you?”

 

Apparently that had been the wrong thing to say, as Matt suddenly drew back away from Keith, he looked even more indignant as he stared at Keith’s eyes, as if he wasn’t really believing what he was saying.

 

“You’re a monster…you said…and he–! And you still…?”

 

Matt just started babbling in incomplete sentences and just looked at Keith’s eyes with ferocity, he opened his mouth as if to say anything but he stopped himself and took a deep, shaky breath and looked anywhere but at Keith.

 

Matt contemplated to tell Keith what happened to Lance, that boy…he didn’t deserve whatever Keith had said to him, Lance had _refused_ to tell him and just had a panic attack and kept chanting: _“He was right, he’s right about it all, he **knows** –!”_

 

It honestly terrified Matt.

 

After standing there for a bit, it seemed like Matt came to a conclusion and he looked at Keith again, his eyes were sharp like an eagle’s at that moment.

 

“He’s in hospital.”

 

Keith’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.

 

…What?

 

“What?”

 

Keith’s voice was quieter as he kept what Matt said repeat into his mind, coming back to the word ‘hospital’. Scenarios flying in and out of his brain, one conclusion swapping for another.

 

None of them looked good.

 

“He’s…not okay. I don’t know what the fuck you said to him, but I want you to tell me,” Matt stuck his index finger into Keith’s sternum, pressing _hard,_  “What. Did. You. Do?”

 

He punctuated each word with a harsh tap into Keith’s chest, each more bruising than the last.

 

“I…”

 

“Now, Kogane.”

 

“I–!”

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Both Matt and Keith look up at Shiro who was standing there, looking like the top notch student the school thought he was.

 

(Keith knew where his weed stash was, he’s seen more…undignified sides of Shiro.)

 

Matt just ignores Shiro, looking back at Keith and giving him a harsh glare that made even Shiro wary.

 

“Tell me.”

 

“…I told him I didn’t like him.”

 

That was when Matt slapped him.

 

  ** _TBC~_**

 


	2. Flurry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance was in danger.
> 
> Matt was scared.

**7:57 PM – Lance’s Apartment**

 

Keith had done something wrong.

 

Matt just knew it. He was the last person that had been with Lance. And he wasn’t oblivious to all the hateful stares.

 

(Sadly, if he, one of the least observant people ever unless it was about Lance, had figured it out, Lance must have known for a long, long time.)

 

“L-Lance c’mon…”

 

“Matt, he knows, he knows it _all_ , how–! I thought I hid it so well! I–! Matt I–!”

 

Matt just hugged him a little bit tighter.

 

They were sitting in Lance’s apartment, being anywhere else just would have made his anxiety spike and that was the last thing they needed. So Matt used his spare keys and bustled in, lance just collapsed on the floor, Matt followed and now…

 

Matt saw the analogue clock sitting on the mantle of the blocked off fire place.

 

It has been the better part of four whole hours.

 

This was one of the worst yet.

 

Matt couldn’t say anything, he was numb, numb and then _angry_.

 

Because Keith decided to hurt someone _so precious_  to Matt, someone he would _die_  for.,

 

But Matt didn’t do anything with that anger other than save it for later, he could feel Lance clutching to him, his manicured black nails (Lance did it on a dare and he refused to say he likes painting his nails, but Matt knows) dug harshly into Matt’s clothes, but hsrdly forceful enough to actually hurt him.

 

Amazing.

 

Lance, even in this state was so…

 

He was…

 

Amazing.

 

 _Keith has another thing coming_ ,

 

Thankfully, Matt could see the first sparks of sleepiness, the sluggishness of moving, his eyes drooping, the over all /exhaustion/ anyone could see from a few to many sleepless nights.

 

So, ignoring the glaring fact that they were not in a bed, had not changed or showered or brushed their teeth, Matt slept with him, curling up behind him in a protective hug.

 

**~**

 

**1:23 AM – Raegan District**

Lance was a goddamn fucking idiot.

 

He honest-to-god should just die.

 

He was walking in the stupidly dangerous alleyways of NY; he didn’t have his phone (but he did have his wallet. Yay.) and he had lost track of where _exactly_  he was, all he knows is that he probably has about five people following him into the dark to finally do what should have been done.

 

(He means them killing him if you didn’t catch his drift.)

 

There were scuffles all around him, shuffling that could mean someone was getting ready to rob him, beat him, rape him, kill him—

 

The possibilities were endless really.

 

And he left Matt, just ran into the night because he couldn’t handle a bit of harsh truth from Keith. Honestly he was right, Lance was just waiting until Matt realized he cold do _so much better_  than a fuck up like Lance, he could find someone that didn’t self-destruct at every negative word, someone who could actually smile and _mean_  it.

 

Someone who deserves to be loved.

 

Because Lance was none of those things, most of his family has left him behind, he’s probably going to get fired from his job at the Coles near their school, he’s flunking History and Science, both subjects his parents /excelled/ in (Hint hint that’s part of the reason they left him) and he lost contact with all of the important people in his life.

 

 _Except Matt_. a sweet voice in his mind said, _You still have Matt._

 

And Lance stopped walking, ignoring the yowls of a cat protecting its territory, he ignored the cat piss smell mixing terribly with the overfilled garbage, he ignored the dead end of the alleyway, he ignore /all of it/.

 

He just wanted to talk to Matt.

 

How could Lance be so _stupid_?

 

He loves Matt, the boy is literally the only light in his life, how could he just _leave him behind?_

 

“Matt…”

 

His broken throat burned with pain and ecstasy, just hearing that name, even if it was his own disgusting voice, made him happy, now all he needs is the actual guy to hug the life out of.

 

Feeling somewhat rejuvenated, Lance spins on his heel, expecting to run and, somehow, some _way_  he was going to go back to Matt, because he loves Matt and Matt loves _him_. It didn’t matter if it was temporary or permanent because **_Lance. Loved. Matt._**

 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

 

A gruff voice made Lance freeze, the moonlight didn’t make a dent in the overbearing clouds that coated the sky, it was eerie, the silence was consuming, and Lance couldn’t even see the silhouettes standing at the mouth of the alleyway.

 

He knows there’s more than one because _he knows that voice_.

 

It was the _Galra_.

 

And not just any.

 

Oh no.

 

It was _Zarkon_.

 

**~**

 

The first thing Matt realized when he woke up with a start was that it was warm, he was comfortable in a way that he wasn’t when he went to sleep.

 

The second thing was the lack of Lance.

 

**~**

 

It’s been hours.

 

Fucking _hours_.

 

Matt had rung Lance’s phone twenty times before he found it in one of the drawers in the dresser, but he didn’t see his large bulky brown wallet, so Lance wasn’t completely off the map.

 

But still, it was almost fucking _one in the morning_. Sure they’ve spent nights curled up much later together in bed, so Matt wasn’t worried about any sleep deprivation, but Lance was most certainly _not here_.

 

He was _outside_.

 

And knowing Lance, he was probably wandering around the alleyways because they had no lights and he didn’t like the noise of cars rumbling by.

 

Matt knew that Lance, right now, at this very second, wasn’t safe.

 

He could feel it in his bones, he could sense it in the thrumming underneath his fingertips, he could /see/ I’m his mind’s eyes that Lance was probably getting _hurt_  and Matt was just sitting here while the _man he loves_  isn’t safe with him in these four walls where they made their little bubble of safety.

 

Matt only realized he was putting on his shoes when he heard the jingle of keys in his hands, but he didn’t stop himself, he needed to _do_  something.

 

Now Matt kind of gets how Keith feels sometimes.

 

And that brings a whole new angle to this, as Matt skips down the stairs to the entrance-exit to the building, this is, not completely, but _somehow_  related to something Keith said.

 

And Matt was _pissed_.

 

**~**

 

**2:48am – Central Square**

 

Matt had just turned the corner on Blair Street when he heard his phone ring, and he shot his hand quickly to answer, uncaring of the dirty looks he got by stopping the middle of the street, he didn’t notice the unknown number blaring at him.

 

_“M-Matt?”_

 

Matt froze.

 

“L-Lance? Wh-Where are you right now!?”

 

Lance winced at the volume of his steadily rising voice.

 

_“Uh-I—!”_

 

Lance’s voice broke and he hacked for a bit, bile was rising up Matt’s throat as he waited for those excruciatingly painful seconds.

 

_“Is this Matthew Holt?”_

 

A new voice startled him and Matt rushed to move away from the loud milling crowds.

 

“Yes. Who is this? Where is Lance? Is he—!?”

 

_“We are in Voltron Hospital; Lance was brought to us by a shop keeper in the Reagan District.”_

 

Matt froze, that was where gang activity was going _wild_.

 

Why the fuck was Lance _there!?_

 

**_NO._ **

 

Matt had to calm himself, he couldn’t see Lance, however condition the boy was in, like this, he couldn’t scare him off.”

 

“I’m on my way.”

 

_~_

 

**2:15AM – Lance**

 

Lance was scared.

 

**_BEEP_ **

 

He didn’t want to move, everything _hurt_.

 

_**BEEP** _

 

His clothes were torn, he was covered in minor stab wounds, his eyes and face felt swollen, his arm and complimentary leg were broken and he could feel the ripped skin around his as, while the Galra members were kicking him around, he heard one of them suggest something that made his whole body even more tense.

 

_**BEEP** _

 

After that, a bunch of them ha raped him, he screamed, he cried, he thrashed around, got even more beat up because of it.

 

_**BEEP BEEP BEEP** _

 

Then, he didn’t how, they were gone, they had their fun, their toy was broken now so they just threw him away like they did all their victims.

 

_**BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP** _

 

He didn’t register the swing of a door opening until he heard a small bunch of footsteps coming closer.

 

**_BEEP BEEP BEEP_ **

 

Suddenly he saw a white ceiling and he was looking at the distraught face of Matt, who’s face was covered in tear tracks, his eyes were red, the corners of his eyes were crusting and his cheeks were aflame, like he was sick.

 

**_BEEP BEEP_ **

 

Lance reached a hand out to Matt, and he was quickly received, his hand was crushed between two of Matt’s.

 

_**BEEP** _

 

That’s when Lance looked around, he was sitting in a hospital bed, both his left arm and right leg were propped up to alleviate pressure, and half of his face was bandaged and throbbing slightly, at the constant beeping in the back of his mind was actually the heart monitor calming down.

 

_**BEEP** _

 

Lance was disoriented, he couldn’t string his thoughts together quick enough to say anything, the only words that were able to push past his lips were:

 

“Matt, I-I love you.”

 

_**BEEP** _

_**TBC~** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HE DIDNT DIE I SWEAR
> 
> I KNOW IT SEEMS LIKE HE IS BUT HE'S JUST UNCONSCIOUS SO DW
> 
> I HATE MCD SO I WILL NEVER USE IT
> 
> IM SORRRYYYYYYY (BUT NOT REALLYYYYYYYY)
> 
>  
> 
> Also next chap will be Shiro P. O. V.


	3. Mindful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro doesn't know how to put words on exactly how he feels.
> 
> He just knows it isn't _good_.

 He missed Matt.

 

The only times Shiro really got to have a proper conversation with him was during their school breaks, some free periods and the occasional get together between their friends (there haven’t been many of those because everyone is working towards their respective future goals), and majority of those times, _Lance_  was with him.

 

Not all the time, mind you, but too many times for Shiro’s liking.

 

And he _knows_  he’s being an asshole, he _knows_  that it hurts Lance and Matt when someone from their group makes a very subtle but clear dislike for their relationship.

 

That’s what trips Shiro up, in his mind, intellectually, Shiro knows that he hasn’t lost his childhood best friend, no one was abandoning him, no one was pushing him away.

 

(Shiro knew for a fact _he_  was doing the pushing)

 

But that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t _hurt_.

 

Because Shiro remembers when they were children, Katie—or Pidge rather, was just recently born and Matt, five years old at the time held her close, Shiro was there too, when his parents weren’t pushing more tutors onto him he went over to the Holt’s place, his pseudo family, and he promised Matt that the three of them would be together forever, like a family.

 

Some family Shiro was. Getting hung up over a childhood promise that he _barely remembers_  anyway.

 

Shiro knows he’s in the wrong.

 

The fact that Pidge feels the same doesn’t alleviate anything, actually, that’s quite insulting to his maturity, Pidge is a little spitfire that will hunt you down, that’s probably why she and Lance didn’t get along, Shiro could see she was the one to attack first and never ask questions.

 

Quite astonishing when you realize what a brainiac she is.

 

But—as Shiro was saying, they were wrong.

 

But he _couldn’t help it_. Lance just rubbed him the wrong way, he and Keith went to the same primary school and Shiro had heard nothing good, he described Lance as the ‘Bully Type’.

 

Never mind this was in Year 5, Keith had also mentioned how Lance suddenly disappeared that year and how the teachers refused to talk about him when one of the students asked them.

 

Then Lance had suddenly reappeared seven years later and Shiro couldn’t help but read into it, especially how _different_  he seemed, according to Keith.

 

And Keith doesn’t lie. Ever.

 

(He just…gets things astronomically wrong sometimes)

 

(You'd think that'd be the first red flag)

 

**~**

 

**4:29am – Shiro’s Flat**

 

Shiro woke up that morning, _early_  that morning, just fighting off a slight hangover from his and Keith’s…winding down.

 

(That may or may not have dissolved into a long and… _wet_  make out session.)

 

He didn’t want to wake up, he didn’t want to work, but his inner Mrs. Shirogane was harrowing him about how,  _“The early bird gets the worm you lazy ass, now get the fuck out of the bed or I swear I will cut your dick off if you keep pretending to sleep and I’ll—!”_

 

…after that it was a few long minutes of more and more creative threats about cutting _specified areas_  off.

 

She hasn’t changed a bit.

 

When Shiro gets up the first thing he sees on the bedside table is his charging phone _no Keith my phone is not magic I just actually charge it UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE_  and Shiro saw a:  _ **“Good morning asshole.”**_  sent lovingly from the devil herself.

 

(But her mushroom soup was _to die for_  so Shiro can manage, as long as she keeps sending some)

 

He groaned as he stood up shakily, steeling himself to deal with waking Keith up, that boy sleeps like the dead honestly. The light filtering through the haphazardly shut curtains hurt his head and brought a new wave of spinning cut through his brain.

 

As Shiro shuffled over to his en suite, he rubbed his face with his palm, staring at the pale, almost sickly pallor of his skin in his reflection.

 

Shiro hated his reflection, it reminded him of…something a long time ago.

 

_Shiro, 15 years at the time, could hear footsteps entering the house, this was one of the few times he was home alone, and he knew for a fact there weren’t any lessons today so he was on edge._

_He hid in the kitchen and pulled out a steak knife from the knife holder, wincing slightly at the scrape, the silence save the footsteps were deafening and Shiro craved to fill it, but he didn’t, he sat behind the kitchen island and waited._   
  


_Or he was, but then a sudden crash made him gasp loudly._

_After that all he could remember was the terrifying snarl full of rotten and chipped teeth, after that it was a blur._

_Shiro had woken up in hospital to find his parents crying and the doctors looking as monotone as ever, they said his recovery was unexpected, he saw the scar on his nose amd from there on he hated his reflection._

 

Shiro had bleached his hair on a dare, but after that incident he just kept doing it when the roots started to grow out, he wanted to be new, someone who wasn’t the sheltered boy of the Shiroganes, someone—

 

Someone Matt would be proud of, Matt was his family, his _brother_ , they may not be blood related but they were _family_.

 

And now he didn’t have Matt anymore, but that’s—

 

That’s something Shiro shouldn’t be thinking about this early in the morning.

 

**~**

**4:18am – Shiro’s Car**

“For the last time Keith, it is _not and minivan!_.”

 

“Are you fucking blind Shiro!? This is what Mrs. Holt has, it has ‘Soccer Mom’ written all over it, literally!”

 

While that is true (a couple of vandals thought that it was funny, Shiro did not) he loved this baby with his life because he _paid_  for it, out of his _own money_.

 

(It was one of the few things he had that weren’t from his parents.)

 

“Keith, if you don’t like it, you can just walk your ass to schoo everyday, or use the bus.”

 

Shiro smirked as he looked at the road, because the high school was fucking _far_  from their shared apartment and Keith refused to take the bus because it was gross and he was a huge germophobe and the bus was constantly filled with people who just rubbed him the wrong way.

 

Shiro thought it was fucking _hilarious_.

 

“I know you’re laughing at me asshole.”

 

“Lol.”

 

**~**

 

“Did you just _ironically_  say ‘lol’ out loud?!”

 

**~**

 

**6:04am – Garrison High school**

 

“Damn, I’m a few minutes late, I gotta run Keith, I’ll see you at first period.”

 

Shiro hurriedly grabbed his bag heavy with textbooks from the boot (it was a hazard in the front, it was around 47kg) and ran as fast as someone can when they’ve got 47 kg weighing his weaker shoulder down.

 

**~**

 

Shiro hated being on the school’s newspaper committee, but it looked good if he wanted a future in journalism so he just dealt with it.

 

One of the reasons he hates it, (even though he’ll unconvincingly deny it till the day he dies) is that Lance is also in the committee, and he was Shiro’s co-coordinator, taking on all the paperwork and making thematic and choreographic tables with the information that Shiro brings.

 

What Shiro isn’t too petty to admit, is that Lance did a good job, you can still hate someone who is actually talented.

 

(Shiro doesn’t entertain this thought process much, because Lance is so much _better_  than Shiro at everything, and it just…it hurts Shiro)

 

**~**

 

As Shiro walked in, signature fake smile at the ready, a room with only two people greet him.

 

“Nyma? Rolo? Where’s Lance? Is he in the bathroom or something?”

 

The two siblings just looked up at him and Nyma shrugged, giving her the air of nonchalance and simply shrugged.

 

(Shiro knew better though, he’d seen those looks Nyma would send to Lance time after time, in fact, he was pretty sure the only reason she was still here was because Lance was the one handing out pamphlets with that particular shine in his eye that he sees in Lance’s eyes sometimes)

 

“No idea, he wasn’t here when we got here.”

 

Now that was worrying.

 

Lance never, _never_  missed a day at the committee.

 

_Ever_.

 

But Shiro didn’t get worried too much quite yet, there were so many things that could explain this, he could just be sleeping in, or he just wanted to get a coffee before meeting up.

 

(Yet Shiro somehow _knew_  something was wrong; he could _feel it_.)

 

“Well, we can start without him, Nyma could you brief him when you see him? You guys are in the same class right?”

 

“Y-Yeah, totally.”

 

“Oooh someone’s pining _har_ –Ow!”

 

Nyma just looked away and crossed her arms and made an indignant noise.

 

It wasn’t like it was a huge secret, the whole school knew Nyma wanted Lance _bad_.

 

(Their group had no idea how, they couldn’t see how Nyma could like _Lance_  of all people).

 

“Whatever, let’s just finish this, Nyma make sure you send our drafts to Lance.”

 

**~**

 

Granted it did take a long time without Lance and his gift for figuring out formats and stuff, and he always did take on a bigger load than the other three, it was really only Lance and Shiro that did this part of the job, Nyma and Rolo were more camerawoman and interviewer in the journalism field.

 

(Shiro had two voices nagging at him the entire time, one saying how _good_  it was without Lance…and another telling him that he kind of missed his company, Shiro didn’t know what to think of it all so he just got on with work.)

 

**~**

 

It was around six-thirty that Shiro wanted to take a break, he told Rolo he was going to get some coffee and left, Nyma’s eyes trailing after him.

 

**~**

 

When Shiro was out in the crisp, fresh air, he took a deep breath, being in a small room for long periods of time really freaked Shiro out sometimes, he just needed a second to calm himself down.

 

(You can see Shiro loves having classes with Ms. Ryner, who never lets him out of the classroom, the school hasn’t informed her about his slight claustrophobia yet, which is fine, Shiro doesn’t want to talk about it.)

 

Shiro was just walking around when he saw Matt talking to Keith.

 

Matt looked like he was crying, Shiro felt himself speed up, he crossed the courtyard, neither boy noticed him in the blatant sunshine, trapped in their own little conversation.

 

Shiro saw Keith’s lips moving as he stood up, putting his hands are on Matt’s shoulders in a stabilizing gesture, and Shiro calmed down a bit.

 

That was, until he saw Matt’s face.

 

It was a mix of surprise, horror and disgust that rivalled ‘The Scream’.

 

Then suddenly Keith froze and Shiro just caught the tail end of Keith asking: “What…?” in that shaky voice that indicates he was about to cry and he spoke up.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

Matt and Keith look at him for a second but they ignore him, and Keith mutters while looking at the ground.

 

“…I told him I didn’t like him.”

 

And to everyone’s surprise, Matt slapped Keith.

 

_Hard_.

**Author's Note:**

> BAZINGA
> 
> Tumblr: hellomynameiscrazy


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